‘Survivor: Caramoan’ Season Finale: Who Won?

This season of Survivor was labeled Fans vs. Favorites, but the person who has dominated is both a fan and a favorite. When John Cochran first appeared on Survivor, 3 seasons ago in South Pacific, he claimed to be one of the biggest fans of the program. Cochran says he never misses an episode of Survivor on TV. He has studied the show for years and even wrote an academic paper on it while at Harvard Law School. Impressive!

But, Cochran struggled to find his way that first season. He never seemed to be the smart, strategic player who could outwit his opponents, and his physical condition made outplaying them pretty much impossible. But, it has all changed in Season 26, Survivor: Caramoan. Cochran has been the dominant player thus far, staying in the background for a while but still controlling what was going on. When he had to step up, when the crazy CIA analyst Phillip Sheppard was surprisingly eliminated, Cochran kept his alliance together and was able to sniff out any threats. He even managed to win a few challenges!

Want to know how strong Cochran has played the game so far? He is the only person left who has not had a single vote cast against him at Tribal Council. Not ONE! So, even when Cochran was a key figure in an alliance taking someone out, that person has not voted against him. It is clear that his biggest move in the game was his rock-solid early alliance with Dawn Meehan, a fellow competitor from South Pacific. Dawn told Cochran about any plots that did not work into his plans. But, Dawn has had Cochran’s back by stabbing others in their backs. Last week, when she brutally ousted her close friend, Brenda, she probably sealed her fate. There are just too many members of the jury who resent Dawn at this point. If you ask me, she has no chance to win the game.

As I write this, prior to watching how this season’s final episode will play out, the two things I feel confident about are that Cochran is the strong, strong favorite to win and Dawn seems extremely unlikely to get votes from the jury.

In addition to those two we have:

Eddie, the physical threat who has coasted through the game for a few episodes now, just waiting to get voted out but somehow dodging it each time. Malcolm and Reynold like him, and Andrea lusts for him, but I am not sure many other folks would vote for Eddie.

Erik, quiet and physical. He has been on the right side of every alliance, but never seemed to take control or make strategic decisions. I don’t think he has enemies on the jury, but he doesn’t exactly have allies either.

And Sherri, who has also flown under-the-radar for much of the game. She too has refused to make any strategic moves since very early in the game, though that may be because she has sensed that by keeping quiet, she would be taken a long way.

So, with that set up, let’s get to the episode!

The episode begins with a recap of the entire season. We quickly get reminded about the silliness of Philip’s “Stealth-R-Us.” We get to relive the anger and aggression of Shamar and the general insanity of Brandon. And then there was the ultimate immunity moment, when the “Three Amigos” managed to protect themselves and take out Philip.

The new stuff begins… with Erik in some real trouble. His head is spinning and he is not feeling well. It is just minutes after the tribal council and Erik cannot even walk back to camp. They call the doctors in. Erik needs intravenous fluids and his blood pressure is extremely low. The doctors pull him from the game. Erik seems to take it pretty well. I think he is so out of it he barely understands what is going on. Everyone says goodbye and now there are only 4 players left in the game. WOW, that was fast and stunning!

Eddie is thrilled. He is now the only physical threat left in the game. Win one more challenge and he makes it to the end. He has a real shot at winning if he can do that! Cochran realizes Eddie’s new power in the game and begins cozying up to him. They seem to make a deal to get rid of Dawn. I don’t think Cochran will go along with that if Eddie does not win immunity.

It is time for a reward challenge. It is a fairly tough combination of building a house of cards and balancing at the same time. Everyone gets close but sees their stacks fall. It is a pretty tense challenge. Eventually, Cochran wins and it is a very special reward. He will get an advantage in the final, all-important immunity challenge. HUGE!!

Back at camp, Sherri and Eddie go off to talk. They think Dawn is the top choice to win the game and want to take her out. They point out she has played the sympathy card to perfection – Dawn has 6 kids and talks about needing to pay for their college – and they think she is unbeatable. Wow, I don’t know what show they are watching, but the TV audience has seen Dawn as an emotional, backstabbing wreck. She’s been a mess. She does not feel like a winner.

Next up is the famous “passing of the torches” where the final 4 march past the snuffed out torches of all their vanquished competitors. This moment in the finale is the reason I DVR this show and start watching ten minutes or so after the episode begins… so I can fast forward through this. What a waste of time! Argh!

Once that waste of TV time is done, we get to the final immunity challenge. It is a race up a three story tower to retrieve puzzle pieces. Cochran finds out his advantage – rather than having to untie knots to get his bags of puzzle pieces, his bags will just be waiting for him. It is a huge time advantage. He is still going to have to solve the puzzle, but this is a really big deal. Cochran gets his third bag before anyone else has even untied their second. He’s a smart guys and pretty good at puzzles, I can’t see him losing with this advantage.

I was wrong. Cochran is horrible putting the puzzle together. He can’t figure out that colors matter as well as shapes. Dawn takes an early lead. But then Cochran starts to figure it out. He races ahead and wins! Dawn is the very first person to give him a congratulatory hug.

Cochran’s case to the jury is just getting better. He is not only going to get credit for controlling the game and being a smart and social player, but he has even dominated the challenges. I never, ever, ever expected that out of him. If he can finish this off with a win, he is going to go down as one of the best players of all time.

Back at camp, Cochran is debating who to take with him to the finals. He is sure about Sherri, who he thinks will get no votes at all from the jury. So, it comes down to Eddie or Dawn. Dawn promptly goes emotional and starts crying. I want to gouge my eyes out at her! Eddie plays it smart and talks to Cochran about how sympathetic Dawn is.

The conversation with Eddie is memorable because Eddie talks about his dream of opening a bar where people can bring their dogs. Somewhere, a health inspector is drooling at the possibility of Eddie’s dog bar being on his beat.

Enough of that – time for the final tribal challenge before we get to the jury vote. Dawn makes the case for Eddie being voted out (he’s a great guy and has no enemies on the jury). Eddie does the same for Dawn (she has been the main strategist in the game and will get respect for controlling things). Sherri chimes in and seems to say she wants Dawn to go home, but when the vote happens, Sherri joins Cochran and Dawn in voting Eddie out.

So, the jury will pick from between Sherri, Dawn, and Cochran. I suppose there may be something the audience has not been shown in the game, but if we got a true picture of the game. Cochran is about to win this thing.

The next morning, they have a breakfast feast where everyone talks about how the game went. Cochran and Dawn reflect on how they controlled things from the beginning. We then get to see Cochran sitting and thinking about how to plead to the jury. He talks about the paper he wrote at Harvard about Survivor juries. If anyone can be really good in front of the jury it should be him, but Cochran is nervous and thinks he is going to mess it up.

Dawn speaks to the jury first. She tries to be charming and sweet. Several members of the jury don’t seem to buy it. Malcolm, Andrea, and Brenda all glare at her. Still, it is a fairly decent speech.

Sherri is next. She talks about her success in business, which is probably a terrible idea. She is essentially telling everyone that she is fairly well off and does not need the money. She stumbles and stammers and seems lost in her thoughts. It is a terrible speech. We see several members of the jury almost embrassed for how poorly she is doing. Ugh. I don’t think anyone will vote for her.

Cochran’s turn. He talks about his love for the game. He talks about his success in challenges. He talks about how he played a good social game. It is a somewhat arrogant speech, but is not bad. He finishes by saying, “I want to prove why I played the best game.”

Malcolm starts the jury questions. He has no question for Sherri, because she does not matter. He tells Dawn to make sure she owns her moves and is not afraid to admit she backstabbed people. He asks Cochran what got him here and Cochran gives a good answer. He talks about his insecurities and how they kept him sharp.

Eddie is next and tells Sherri she was carried to the finals. She says no and the jury actually laughs at her. The biggest moment in Eddie’s questions come when Cochran talks about hanging out at a bar with manly men. It is funny and endearing. More points for Cochran.

Philip comes up and promptly kicks Sherri out of “Stealth-R-Us.” Everyone laughs again. He then dissects Dawn for her fragile psyche. He concludes by complimenting Cochran for playing a great game. We know Philip’s vote.

Erik does further damage to Dawn by talking about how she destroyed his trust when she voted out Brenda. It is emotional. Erik turns to Sherri and tells her she did nothing in the game. She fights back and tells him to just sit down. She comes off as bitter and angry. Not sure it matters as Sherri is a non-factor at this point.

Michael gives Dawn a chance to come back a bit, asking her how she helped Cochran to get to the end. Her answer is pretty good and she points out that she did the dirty work for Cochran. It is her best moment thus far in front of the jury.

Reynold begins his talk by calling Dawn fake and disingenuous. He asks her to dissect his personality. She struggles but manages to insult him a bit and it is another good moment for her as Reynold accepts it gladly. He almost seems like he might vote for her… maybe.

Andrea asks Cochran what animal he would be and he gives a great answer, “A chameleon.” He explains it and it is really good. Andrea says some nice things about Dawn too.

Brenda asks Cochran about how he voted her out after she gave him so much at the family reward challenge. His answer is good as he talks about separating his emotional feelings from his strategic ones. She accepts it. Brenda then talks about how Dawn betrayed her. Brenda starts to cry during this part and it is powerful. Brenda then talks about the incident where Dawn lost her fake teeth and Brenda found them. She insists that Dawn take her teeth out to show how much she wants to stay in the game. Dawn gets upset and defiant for a bit but relents and takes the teeth out. I hope someone votes for Dawn for doing that as it took guts on her part.

Time for the jury to vote and I think it could be a 6-2 or 7-1 victory for Cochran. I think the teeth earned Dawn at least one vote.

We are transported to CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles for the reading of the votes. Jeff asks each of the three finalists about their odds of winning. Sherri admits she has no chance. Cochran says he feels good but is prepared to be disappointed because Survivor is nothing if not surprising. Dawn also says she does not think she is going to win, “but I’m going to be able to buy myself some new teeth.”

The votes are read: Cochran, Cochran, Cochran, Cochran… and on and on. It is a unanimous vote! He joins Earl (from Fiji) and JT (from Tocantins) as the only unanimous winners in Survivor history. And he is a very deserving winner!

So, now it is your turn to chime in with comments. Were you rooting for Cochran to win? Do you think Eddie could have beaten him at the end? What did you think of toothless Dawn? Could you believe how many challenges Cochran won?!?! Post your comments and we can all chat about it. A great season, if you ask me!

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